I finally got the Ridgid jointer (JP0610) out of the box and put together...
out of necessity. I had built a sled for large panels using some MDF
doubled up as the fence. After looking at a few of the panels I realized
they were a hair out of square. So I assembled the jointer and made a real
fence out of some 2" poplar stock. It'll hold for now and the panels are
square as square can be.

The jointer is pretty nice. It went together easily, although it was more
of a pain to assemble and true up than the new table saw. It was easy to
get the fence square and the tables were coplanar out of the box. Im happy
with the purchase. I will say that even though it came in several pieces,
my back is still hurting from carrying the main assembly down the stairs.
Thats one heavy SOB. I wouldnt even attempt to do it alone with anything
bigger.

I finally got the Freud Dado (SD208) blade on the new saw (Craftsman 22114)
to cut some 3/4" dados.... all I can say is 'sweeeeeeet'. There are
certainly some better dado sets out there, but I cannot complain about this
set. The bottom is dead nutz flush. The edges are as clean as the cuts the
WWII is making. And it was easy to setup for the width of the oak plywood
I'm using.

All in all, Im as happy as a lark with the recent tool purchases I've made.
I haven't had this much fun since I was in college. SWMBO is happy too.
Part of the deal with me buying the tools was that I would build her a few
pieces first. She is so far satisfied with the progress I have made... I
have made a few rookie mistakes (not to be made again) but luckily I am
currently still under budget... could that mean another tool?

I will have a website with pictures soon. Stay tuned if you're interested.

Thanks.

Mike W.
mike dot witters at yahoo dot com